He to whom the dominion over the heavens and the earth belongs,
and who begets no offspring,2 and has no partner in His
dominion: for it is He who creates every thing and determines its
nature in accordance with [His own] design.3

And yet, some choose to worship, instead of Him, [imaginary]
deities that cannot create anything hut are themselves
created.4 and have it not within their power to avert
harm from, or bring benefit to, themselves, and have no power
over death, nor over life, nor over resurrection!

Moreover, those who are bent on denying the truth are wont to
say, "This [Qur'an] is nothing but a lie which he [himself] has
devised with the help of other people,5 who thereupon
have perverted the truth and brought a falsehood into
being."6

Yet they say: "What sort of apostle is this [man] who eats food
[like all other mortals] and goes about in the market-places? Why
has not an angel [visibly] been sent down unto him, to act as a
warner together with him?"

Or: "[Why has not] a treasure been granted to him [by God]?" Or:
"He should [at least] have a [bountiful] garden, so that he could
eat thereof [without effort]!"8 And so these evildoers
say [unto one another], "If you were to follow [Muhammad, you
would follow] but a man bewitched!"

Hallowed is He who, if it be His will, shall give thee something
better than that [whereof they speak] - gardens through which
running waters flow - and shall assign to thee mansions [of bliss
in the life to come].

BUT [as for people who are oblivious of thy Sus-tainer's
oneness12 -] one Day He will gather them together with
all that they [now] worship instead of God, and will ask [those
to whom divinity was falsely ascribed13 ]: "Was it you
who led these My creatures astray, or did they by themselves
stray from the right path?"

They will answer: "Limitless art Thou in Thy glory! It was
inconceivable for us to take for our masters anyone but
Thyself!14 But [as for them -] Thou didst allow them and
their forefathers to enjoy [the pleasures of] life to such an
extent that15 they forgt all remembrance [of thee]: for
they were people devoid of all good,"

[Thereupon God will say:] "And now, they [whom you regarded as
divine] have given the lie to all your [past] assertions, and you
can neither ward off [your punishment] nor obtain any succour!
For, whoever of you has committed [such] evil, him shall We cause
to taste areas suffering!"

AND [even] before thee, Lo Muhammad,] We never sent as Our
message-bearers any but [mortal men,] who indeed ate food [like
other human beings] and went about in the market-places: for [it
is thus that] We cause you [human beings] to be a means of
testing one another.'16 Are you17 able to
endure [this test] with patience? For [remember, O man,] thy
Sustainer is truly all-seeing!

Unbelievers who ask for angels today will ask for a stone barrier between them and the angels of punishment

But those who do not believe that they are destined to meet
Us18 are wont to say, "Why have no angels been sent down
to us?" - or, "Why do we not see our Sustainer?" Indeed, they are
far too proud of themselves, hav-ing rebelled [against God's
truth] with utter disdain!

[Yet] on that Day - the Day on which they shall see the
angels19 - there will be no glad tiding for those who
were lost in sin; and they will exclaim, "By a forbidding ban
[are we from God's grace debarred]!"-

Now they who are bent on denying the truth are wont to ask, "Why
has not the Qur'an been bestowed on him from on high in one
single re-velation?" 26 [It has been revealed] in this
manner so that We might strengthen thy heart thereby-for We have
so arranged its component parts that they from one consistent
whole.27

[And so, tell those who are bent on denying the truth that] they
who shall be gathered unto hell upon their faces30 - it
is they who [in the life to come] will be worst in station and
still farther astray from the path [of truth]!31

All nations which rejected Allah's revelations and His Rasools were utterly destroyed and Those who have taken their desires as their gods are nothing but animals

And [think of] the people of Noah: when they gave the lie to [one
of] the apostles, We caused them to drown, and made them a symbol
for all mankind: for, grievous suffering have We readied for all
who [knowingly] do wrong!

And they [who now deny Our messages] must surely have come across
that town which was rained upon by a rain of evil:35
have they, then, never beheld it [with their mind's eye]? But
nay, they would not believe in resurrection!36

Indeed, he would well-nigh have led us astray from our deities,
had we not been [so] steadfastly attached to them!" But in time,
when they see the suffering [that awaits them], they will come to
know who it was that went farthest astray from the path [of
truth]!

ART THOU NOT aware of thy Sustainer [through His works]? - how He
causes the shadow to lengthen [towards the night] when, had He so
willed, He could indeed have made it stand still: but then, We
have made the sun its guide;

AND HE it is who has given freedom of movement to the two great
bodies of water41 - the one sweet and thirst-allaying,
and the other salty and bitter - and yet has wrought between them
a barrier and a forbiddin ban.42

He who has created the heavens and the earth and all that is
between them in six aeons, and is established on the throne of
His almightiness: 46 the Most Gracious! Ask, then, about
Him, Ithel One who is[truly] aware.47

Yet when they [who are bent on denying the truth] are told,
"Prostrate yourselves before the Most Gracious," they are wont to
ask, "And [who and] what is the Most Gracious? Are we to
prostrate ourselves before whatever thou biddest us [to
worship]?"- and so [thy call] but increases their aversion.

and who never invoke any [imaginary] deity side by side with God,
and do not take any human being's life-[the life] which God has
willed to be sacred-otherwise than in [the pursuit of]
justice,52 and do not commit adultery. And [know that]
he who commits aught thereof53 shall [not only] meet
with a full requital

Excepted, however, shall be they who repent and attain to faith
and do righteous deeds: for it is they whose [erstwhile] bad
deeds God will transform into good ones - seeing that God is
indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace,

SAY [unto those who believe]: "No weight or value would my
Sustainer attach to you were it not for your faith [in
Him]!"57 [And say unto those who deny the truth:] "You
have indeed given the lie [to God's message], and in time this
[sin] will cleave unto you!"58

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Ayah_translation Comments

Note - 1

Almost all the commentators give this meaning to the term
al-furqan. In the above context it denotes the Qur'an as
well as the phenomenon of divine revelation as such. (For
an amplified interpretation of this term by Muhammad
'Abduh, see note [38] on 2:53.) The verbal form nazzala
implies gradualness both in time ("successively") and in
method ("step by step").

Note - 2

Note - 3

I.e., in accordance with the function assigned by Him to
each individual thing or phenomenon: cf. the oldest
formulation of this idea in {87:2-3}.

ASD

Note - 4

I.e., whether they be inanimate "representations" of
imaginary deities, or personified forces of nature or
deified human beings. or simplv figments of the
imagination.

ASD

Note - 5

Implying that the Qur'an, or most of it, is based on
Judaeo-Christian teachings allegedly communicated to
Muhammad by some unnamed foreigners (cf. 16:103 and the
corresponding notes, especially note [130]) or,
alternatively, by various Arab converts to Judaism or
Christianity; furthermore, that Muhammad had either
deceived himself into believing that the Qur'an was a
divine revelation, or had deliberately - knowing that it
was not so - attributed it to God.

ASD

Note - 6

Lit., "and thus, indeed, have they come with [or
"brought"] a perversion of the truth" [which obviously is
the meaning of zalm in this context] "and a falsehood".
Whereas it is generally assumed that this clause
constitutes a Qur'anic rebuttal of the malicious
allegation expressed in the preceding clause, I am of the
opinion that it forms part of that allegation, making the
mythical "helpers" of Muhammad co-responsible, as it
were, for the "invention" of the Qur'an.

ASD

Note - 7

Because it was known to his contemporaries that he was
unlettered (ummi) and could not read and write.

ASD

Note - 8

A sarcastic allusion to the "gardens of paradise" of
which the Qur'an so often speaks. (Cf. 13:38 and the
corresponding notes [74] and [75]; also 5:75 and
{21:7-8}.)

ASD

Note - 9

Lit., "When it shall see them from a far-off place": a
metaphorical allusion, it would seem, to the moment of
their death on earth. As in many other instances, we are
given here a subtle verbal hint of the allegorical nature
of the Qur'anic descriptions of conditions in the life to
come by a rhetorical "transfer" of man's faculty of
seeing to the object of his seeing: a usage which
Zamakhshari explicitly characterizes as metaphorical
('ala sabil al-majaz).

ASD

Note - 10

For a tentative explanation of the allegory of the
sinners' being "linked together" in hell, see my note
[64] on 14:49. As regards the "tight space" into which
they will be flung, Zamakhshari remarks: "Distress is
accompanied by [a feeling of] constriction, just as
happiness is accompanied by [a feeling of] spaciousness;
and because of this, God has described paradise as being
'as vast as the heavens and the earth' [3:133]."

ASD

Note - 11

Although the concept of "extinction" (thubur) implies
finality and is, therefore, unrepeatable, the sinners'
praying for "many extinctions" is used here as a metonym
for their indescribable suffering and a corresponding,
indescribable desire for a final escape.

ASD

Note - 12

This passage connects elliptically with verse {3} above.

ASD

Note - 13

The rhetorical "question" which follows is obviously
addressed to wrongfully deified rational beings - i.e.,
prophets or saints - and not, as some commentators
assume, to lifeless idols which, as it were, "will be
made to speak".

ASD

Note - 14

Sc., "and so it would have been morally impossible for us
to ask others to worship us". On the other hand, Ibn
Kathir understands the expression "for us" (lana) as
denoting "us human beings" in general, and not merely the
speakers - in which case the sentence could be rendered
thus: "It is not right for us [human beings] to take...",
etc. In either case, the above allegorical
"question-and-answer" - repeated in many variations
throughout the Qur'an - is meant to stress, in a dramatic
manner, the moral odiousness and intellectual futility of
attributing divine qualities to any being other than God.

ASD

Note - 15

This is the meaning of hatta (lit., "till" or "until") in
the present context.

ASD

Note - 16

This elliptic passage undoubtedly alludes to the fact
that the appearance of each new prophet had, as a rule, a
twofold purpose: firstly, to convey a divinely-inspired
ethical message to man, and thus to establish a criterion
of right and wrong or a standard by which to discern the
true from the false (al-furqan, as stated in the first
verse of this surah); and, secondly, to be a means of
testing men's moral perceptions and dispositions as
manifested in their reactions to the prophet's message -
that is, their willingness or unwillingness to accept it
on the basis of its intrinsic merit without demanding or
even expecting any "supernatural" proof of its divine
origin. Indirectly, in its deepest sense, this passage
implies that not only a prophet but every human being is,
by virtue of his social existence, a means whereby the
moral qualities of his fellow-men are put to a test:
hence, some of the earliest commentators (among them
Tabari) give to the above phrase the connotation of "We
caused you human beings to be a means of testing one
another".

ASD

Note - 17

I.e., "you men" or, more specifically, "you whom the
message of the Qur'an has reached".

ASD

Note - 18

Lit., "who do not hope for [i.e., expect] a meeting with
Us": the implication being that they do not believe in
resurrection and, consequently, do not expect to be
judged by God in after-life.

ASD

Note - 19

Note - 20

Lit.. "will be happiest as regards their abode, and best
as regards their place of repose".

ASD

Note - 21

Lit., "taken a path with the apostle". The terms "the
apostle" and "the evildoer" are here obviously used in
their generic sense, applying to all of God's apostles
and all who consciously reject their guidance. Similarly,
the expression "so-and-so" (fulan) occurring in the next
verse circumscribes any person or personified influence
responsible for leading a human being astray.

ASD

Note - 22

For the implication of the term "Satan" as used here, see
note [10] on 2:14, first half of note [16] on 15:17,
as well as note [31] on 14:22.

ASD

Note - 23

My interpolation of the words "on that Day" and the
(linguistically permissible) attribution of futurity to
the past-tense verb qala is based on the identical
interpretation of the above phrase by great commentators
like Abu Muslim (as quoted by Razi) or Baghawi.

ASD

Note - 24

I.e., as mere wishful thinking and, therefore, of no
account, or as something that in the course of time has
"ceased to be relevant". Since many of those whom the
message of the Qur'an has reached did and do regard it as
a divine revelation and therefore as most "relevant" in
every sense of the word, it is obvious that the
expression "my people" cannot possibly denote here all of
the Prophet's community (either in the national or in the
ideological sense of this word), but signifies only such
of his nominal followers as have lost all real faith in
the Qur'anic message: hence the necessity of
interpolating the (elliptically implied) words "some of"
before "my people".

ASD

Note - 25

Cf. {6: 112}, which refers in very similar terms to the
evil forces (shayatin) against which every prophet has
had to contend. The "glittering half-truths meant to
delude the mind" spoken of in that verse are exemplified
in the present passage, prophetically, by the deceptive
argument that the Qur'an, having been enunciated fourteen
centuries ago, must now be considered "obsolete".

ASD

Note - 26

Lit., "in one piece" or "as one statement" (jumlatan
wahidatan) - implying, in the view of the opponents of
Islam, that the gradual, step-by-step revelation of the
Qur'an points to its having been "composed" by Muhammad
to suit his changing personal and political requirements.

ASD

Note - 27

I.e., free of all inner contradictions (cf. 4:82). See
also 39:23, where the Qur'an is spoken of as "fully
consistent within itself". The concise phrase rattalnahu
tartilan comprises the parallel concepts of "putting the
component parts [of a thing] together and arranging them
well" as well as "endowing it with inner consistency".
Inasmuch as full consistency and freedom from
contradictions in a message spread over twenty-three
years of a life as full of movement and drama as that of
the Prophet does give a clear indication of its
God-inspired quality, it is bound to strengthen the faith
of every thinking believer: and herein lies, according to
the Qur'an itself, the deepest reason for its slow,
gradual revelation. (When applied to the reciting of the
Qur'an - as in 73:4 - the term tartil refers to the
measured diction and the thoughtful manner in which it
ought to be enunciated.)

ASD

Note - 28

Lit., "come to thee with a parable (mathal)" - i.e., with
all manner of seemingly plausible parabolic objections
(exemplified in verses {7-8}, {21} and {32} of this surah
as well as in many other places in the Qur'an) meant to
throw doubt on Muhammad's claim to prophethood and,
hence, on the God-inspired character of the Qur'anic
message.

ASD

Note - 29

Sc., "of the problem or problems involved": an allusion
to the self-explanatory character of the Qur'an.
Throughout this section (verses {30-34}) the personal
pronoun "thou" (in the forms "thy" and "thee") relates
not only to the Prophet but also to every one of his
followers at all times.

ASD

Note - 30

I.e., in utter spiritual abasement (Razi, mentioning some
other commentators as well).

ASD

Note - 31

Note - 32

For this rendering of the term wazlr, see note [18] on
20:29. The mention, at this place, of Moses and Aaron -
and of Noah, etc., in the following verses - is intended
to remind us of the statement in verse {31} above that
"against every prophet We have set up enemies from among
those who are lost in sin".

ASD

Note - 33

Regarding the tribes of 'Ad and Thamud, see surah {7},
notes [48] and [56]. As for Ar-Rass, a town of that name
exists to this day in the Central-Arabian province of
Al-Qasim; in the ancient times referred to it seems to
have been inhabited by descendants of the Nabataean tribe
of Thamud (Tabari). There is, however, no agreement among
the commentators as to the real meaning of this name or
designation; Razi cites several of the current,
conflicting interpretations and rejects all of them as
purely conjectural.

ASD

Note - 34

Sc., "which they failed to heed". For my rendering of
mathal, in this context, as "lesson", see note [104] on
17:89.

ASD

Note - 35

A reference to Sodom and its destruction by a rain of
"stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained" (see
11:82 and the corresponding note [114]). The phrase
"they have come across" may be understood in either of
two ways: (a) in its literal sense of "chancing upon" or
"passing by", in which case it applies to the Prophet's
contemporaries and opponents, the pagan Meccans, whose
customary caravan route to Syria passed close by the Dead
Sea and the probable site of Sodom and Gomorrah; or (b)
in the tropical sense of "becoming aware [of something]"
through reading or hearsay - in which case it may be
taken to refer to people of all times, and to the fact
that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is part and parcel
of mankind's moral heritage.

ASD

Note - 36

Lit., "they were wont not to look forward to [i.e., to
expect or believe in] resurrection".

ASD

Note - 37

Lit., "they are farther astray from the path [of truth]":
see note [144] on 7:179.

ASD

Note - 38

I.e., "We cause it to contract in accordance with the
'laws of nature' which We Ourselves have instituted." As
in so many other instances in the Qur'an, the abrupt
change from the third-person pronoun "He" to "We" is
meant to illustrate the fact that God is undefinable, and
that it is only the inadequacy of human speech - and,
hence, of the human mind - that makes it necessary to
refer to the Supreme Being by pronouns which in relaity
are applicable only to finite, created "persons" (cf.
Foreword, note [2]).

ASD

Note - 39

Lit., "have We turned it over (sarrafnahu) among them": a
reference to the frequent many-faceted reiteration, in
the Qur'an as well as in earlier revelations, of all the
evidence unmistakably pointing to the existence of a
conscious Creator (Zamakhshari).

ASD

Note - 40

Sc., "but We have willed instead that Muhammad be Our
last prophet and, hence, a warner unto all people for all
times to come".

ASD

Note - 41

The noun bahr, usually signifying "sea", is also applied
to large agglomerations of sweet water, like rivers,
lakes, etc.; in the above context, the dual al-bahrayn
denotes "the two great bodies [or "kinds"] of water" -
the salty and the sweet - existing side by side on earth.

ASD

Note - 42

I.e., has caused them - as if by an invisible barrier -
to remain distinct in kind despite their continuous
meeting and mingling in the oceans: an indirect reminder
of God's planning creativeness inherent in the cyclic
transformation of water - its evaporation from the salty
seas, followed by a formation of clouds, their
condensation into rain and snow which feed springs and
rivers, and its return to the seas. Some Muslim mystics
see in this stress on the two kinds of water an allegory
of the gulf - and, at the same time, interaction -
between man's spiritual perceptions, on the one hand, and
his worldly needs and passions, on the other.

ASD

Note - 43

See second half of 21:30 where the creation of "every
living thing out of water" is spoken of, as well as
24:45, which mentions in this connection the entire
animal world (including, of course, man).

ASD

Note - 44

I.e., has enabled him to attribute spiritual value to,
and to derive strength from, his organic and social
relationships.

ASD

Note - 45

Lit., "they".

ASD

Note - 46

Note - 47

I.e., "ask God Himself": since He alone holds the keys to
the mysteries of the universe, it is only by observing
His creation and listening to His revealed messages that
man can obtain a glimpse, however distant, of God's Own
reality.

ASD

Note - 48

See 10:5, where the sun if spoken of as "a [source of]
radiant light", explained in the corresponding note [10].
For my rendering of buruj as "great constellations", see
note [15] on 15:16.

ASD

Note - 49

Lit., "or" (aw) - a particle which obviously does not
denote here an alternative but, rather, an explanatory
amplification, similar to the expression "in other
words".

ASD

Note - 50

Sc., "with the aim to ridicule them or to argue against
their beliefs".

ASD

Note - 51

In the Qur'an, the verb anfaqa (and the corresponding
noun nafaqah) has usually this connotation.

ASD

Note - 52

See surah {6}, note [148].

ASD

Note - 53

Lit., "he who does that (dhalika)", i.e., any of the
three sins referred to in this verse. (For my translation
of zina as "adultery", see surah {24}, note [2].)

ASD

Note - 54

Implying that neither do they themselves ever bear false
witness (i.e., in the widest sense of this expression,
tell any lie), nor do they knowingly take part in
anything that is based on falsehood (Razi).

ASD

Note - 55

Explaining this verse, Zamakhshari remarks that whereas
the average run of people approach the divine writ with a
mere outward show of eagerness, "throwing themselves upon
it" for the sake of appearances but, in reality, not
making the least attempt to understand the message as
such and, hence, remaining deaf and blind to its contents
- the truly God-conscious are deeply desirous of
understanding it, and therefore "listen to it with
wide-awake ears and look into it with seeing eyes".

ASD

Note - 56

I.e., by living a righteous life.

ASD

Note - 57

Lit., "were it not for your prayer", which term Ibn
'Abbas (as quoted by Tabari) equates in this context with
"faith".

ASD

Note - 58

I.e., "unless you repent, this sin will determine your
spiritual destiny in the life to come".

ASD

0 votes 0 dislikes

1

Almost all the commentators give this meaning to the term
al-furqan. In the above context it denotes the Qur'an as
well as the phenomenon of divine revelation as such. (For
an amplified interpretation of this term by Muhammad
'Abduh, see note [38] on 2:53.) The verbal form nazzala
implies gradualness both in time ("successively") and in
method ("step by step").

I.e., in accordance with the function assigned by Him to
each individual thing or phenomenon: cf. the oldest
formulation of this idea in {87:2-3}.

0 votes 0 dislikes

4

I.e., whether they be inanimate "representations" of
imaginary deities, or personified forces of nature or
deified human beings. or simplv figments of the
imagination.

0 votes 0 dislikes

5

Implying that the Qur'an, or most of it, is based on
Judaeo-Christian teachings allegedly communicated to
Muhammad by some unnamed foreigners (cf. 16:103 and the
corresponding notes, especially note [130]) or,
alternatively, by various Arab converts to Judaism or
Christianity; furthermore, that Muhammad had either
deceived himself into believing that the Qur'an was a
divine revelation, or had deliberately - knowing that it
was not so - attributed it to God.

0 votes 0 dislikes

6

Lit., "and thus, indeed, have they come with [or
"brought"] a perversion of the truth" [which obviously is
the meaning of zalm in this context] "and a falsehood".
Whereas it is generally assumed that this clause
constitutes a Qur'anic rebuttal of the malicious
allegation expressed in the preceding clause, I am of the
opinion that it forms part of that allegation, making the
mythical "helpers" of Muhammad co-responsible, as it
were, for the "invention" of the Qur'an.

0 votes 0 dislikes

7

Because it was known to his contemporaries that he was
unlettered (ummi) and could not read and write.

0 votes 0 dislikes

8

A sarcastic allusion to the "gardens of paradise" of
which the Qur'an so often speaks. (Cf. 13:38 and the
corresponding notes [74] and [75]; also 5:75 and
{21:7-8}.)

0 votes 0 dislikes

9

Lit., "When it shall see them from a far-off place": a
metaphorical allusion, it would seem, to the moment of
their death on earth. As in many other instances, we are
given here a subtle verbal hint of the allegorical nature
of the Qur'anic descriptions of conditions in the life to
come by a rhetorical "transfer" of man's faculty of
seeing to the object of his seeing: a usage which
Zamakhshari explicitly characterizes as metaphorical
('ala sabil al-majaz).

0 votes 0 dislikes

10

For a tentative explanation of the allegory of the
sinners' being "linked together" in hell, see my note
[64] on 14:49. As regards the "tight space" into which
they will be flung, Zamakhshari remarks: "Distress is
accompanied by [a feeling of] constriction, just as
happiness is accompanied by [a feeling of] spaciousness;
and because of this, God has described paradise as being
'as vast as the heavens and the earth' [3:133]."

0 votes 0 dislikes

11

Although the concept of "extinction" (thubur) implies
finality and is, therefore, unrepeatable, the sinners'
praying for "many extinctions" is used here as a metonym
for their indescribable suffering and a corresponding,
indescribable desire for a final escape.

0 votes 0 dislikes

12

This passage connects elliptically with verse {3} above.

0 votes 0 dislikes

13

The rhetorical "question" which follows is obviously
addressed to wrongfully deified rational beings - i.e.,
prophets or saints - and not, as some commentators
assume, to lifeless idols which, as it were, "will be
made to speak".

0 votes 0 dislikes

14

Sc., "and so it would have been morally impossible for us
to ask others to worship us". On the other hand, Ibn
Kathir understands the expression "for us" (lana) as
denoting "us human beings" in general, and not merely the
speakers - in which case the sentence could be rendered
thus: "It is not right for us [human beings] to take...",
etc. In either case, the above allegorical
"question-and-answer" - repeated in many variations
throughout the Qur'an - is meant to stress, in a dramatic
manner, the moral odiousness and intellectual futility of
attributing divine qualities to any being other than God.

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15

This is the meaning of hatta (lit., "till" or "until") in
the present context.

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16

This elliptic passage undoubtedly alludes to the fact
that the appearance of each new prophet had, as a rule, a
twofold purpose: firstly, to convey a divinely-inspired
ethical message to man, and thus to establish a criterion
of right and wrong or a standard by which to discern the
true from the false (al-furqan, as stated in the first
verse of this surah); and, secondly, to be a means of
testing men's moral perceptions and dispositions as
manifested in their reactions to the prophet's message -
that is, their willingness or unwillingness to accept it
on the basis of its intrinsic merit without demanding or
even expecting any "supernatural" proof of its divine
origin. Indirectly, in its deepest sense, this passage
implies that not only a prophet but every human being is,
by virtue of his social existence, a means whereby the
moral qualities of his fellow-men are put to a test:
hence, some of the earliest commentators (among them
Tabari) give to the above phrase the connotation of "We
caused you human beings to be a means of testing one
another".

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17

I.e., "you men" or, more specifically, "you whom the
message of the Qur'an has reached".

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18

Lit., "who do not hope for [i.e., expect] a meeting with
Us": the implication being that they do not believe in
resurrection and, consequently, do not expect to be
judged by God in after-life.

Lit.. "will be happiest as regards their abode, and best
as regards their place of repose".

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21

Lit., "taken a path with the apostle". The terms "the
apostle" and "the evildoer" are here obviously used in
their generic sense, applying to all of God's apostles
and all who consciously reject their guidance. Similarly,
the expression "so-and-so" (fulan) occurring in the next
verse circumscribes any person or personified influence
responsible for leading a human being astray.

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22

For the implication of the term "Satan" as used here, see
note [10] on 2:14, first half of note [16] on 15:17,
as well as note [31] on 14:22.

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23

My interpolation of the words "on that Day" and the
(linguistically permissible) attribution of futurity to
the past-tense verb qala is based on the identical
interpretation of the above phrase by great commentators
like Abu Muslim (as quoted by Razi) or Baghawi.

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24

I.e., as mere wishful thinking and, therefore, of no
account, or as something that in the course of time has
"ceased to be relevant". Since many of those whom the
message of the Qur'an has reached did and do regard it as
a divine revelation and therefore as most "relevant" in
every sense of the word, it is obvious that the
expression "my people" cannot possibly denote here all of
the Prophet's community (either in the national or in the
ideological sense of this word), but signifies only such
of his nominal followers as have lost all real faith in
the Qur'anic message: hence the necessity of
interpolating the (elliptically implied) words "some of"
before "my people".

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25

Cf. {6: 112}, which refers in very similar terms to the
evil forces (shayatin) against which every prophet has
had to contend. The "glittering half-truths meant to
delude the mind" spoken of in that verse are exemplified
in the present passage, prophetically, by the deceptive
argument that the Qur'an, having been enunciated fourteen
centuries ago, must now be considered "obsolete".

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26

Lit., "in one piece" or "as one statement" (jumlatan
wahidatan) - implying, in the view of the opponents of
Islam, that the gradual, step-by-step revelation of the
Qur'an points to its having been "composed" by Muhammad
to suit his changing personal and political requirements.

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27

I.e., free of all inner contradictions (cf. 4:82). See
also 39:23, where the Qur'an is spoken of as "fully
consistent within itself". The concise phrase rattalnahu
tartilan comprises the parallel concepts of "putting the
component parts [of a thing] together and arranging them
well" as well as "endowing it with inner consistency".
Inasmuch as full consistency and freedom from
contradictions in a message spread over twenty-three
years of a life as full of movement and drama as that of
the Prophet does give a clear indication of its
God-inspired quality, it is bound to strengthen the faith
of every thinking believer: and herein lies, according to
the Qur'an itself, the deepest reason for its slow,
gradual revelation. (When applied to the reciting of the
Qur'an - as in 73:4 - the term tartil refers to the
measured diction and the thoughtful manner in which it
ought to be enunciated.)

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28

Lit., "come to thee with a parable (mathal)" - i.e., with
all manner of seemingly plausible parabolic objections
(exemplified in verses {7-8}, {21} and {32} of this surah
as well as in many other places in the Qur'an) meant to
throw doubt on Muhammad's claim to prophethood and,
hence, on the God-inspired character of the Qur'anic
message.

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29

Sc., "of the problem or problems involved": an allusion
to the self-explanatory character of the Qur'an.
Throughout this section (verses {30-34}) the personal
pronoun "thou" (in the forms "thy" and "thee") relates
not only to the Prophet but also to every one of his
followers at all times.

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30

I.e., in utter spiritual abasement (Razi, mentioning some
other commentators as well).

For this rendering of the term wazlr, see note [18] on
20:29. The mention, at this place, of Moses and Aaron -
and of Noah, etc., in the following verses - is intended
to remind us of the statement in verse {31} above that
"against every prophet We have set up enemies from among
those who are lost in sin".

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33

Regarding the tribes of 'Ad and Thamud, see surah {7},
notes [48] and [56]. As for Ar-Rass, a town of that name
exists to this day in the Central-Arabian province of
Al-Qasim; in the ancient times referred to it seems to
have been inhabited by descendants of the Nabataean tribe
of Thamud (Tabari). There is, however, no agreement among
the commentators as to the real meaning of this name or
designation; Razi cites several of the current,
conflicting interpretations and rejects all of them as
purely conjectural.

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34

Sc., "which they failed to heed". For my rendering of
mathal, in this context, as "lesson", see note [104] on
17:89.

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35

A reference to Sodom and its destruction by a rain of
"stone-hard blows of chastisement pre-ordained" (see
11:82 and the corresponding note [114]). The phrase
"they have come across" may be understood in either of
two ways: (a) in its literal sense of "chancing upon" or
"passing by", in which case it applies to the Prophet's
contemporaries and opponents, the pagan Meccans, whose
customary caravan route to Syria passed close by the Dead
Sea and the probable site of Sodom and Gomorrah; or (b)
in the tropical sense of "becoming aware [of something]"
through reading or hearsay - in which case it may be
taken to refer to people of all times, and to the fact
that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is part and parcel
of mankind's moral heritage.

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36

Lit., "they were wont not to look forward to [i.e., to
expect or believe in] resurrection".

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37

Lit., "they are farther astray from the path [of truth]":
see note [144] on 7:179.

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38

I.e., "We cause it to contract in accordance with the
'laws of nature' which We Ourselves have instituted." As
in so many other instances in the Qur'an, the abrupt
change from the third-person pronoun "He" to "We" is
meant to illustrate the fact that God is undefinable, and
that it is only the inadequacy of human speech - and,
hence, of the human mind - that makes it necessary to
refer to the Supreme Being by pronouns which in relaity
are applicable only to finite, created "persons" (cf.
Foreword, note [2]).

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39

Lit., "have We turned it over (sarrafnahu) among them": a
reference to the frequent many-faceted reiteration, in
the Qur'an as well as in earlier revelations, of all the
evidence unmistakably pointing to the existence of a
conscious Creator (Zamakhshari).

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40

Sc., "but We have willed instead that Muhammad be Our
last prophet and, hence, a warner unto all people for all
times to come".

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41

The noun bahr, usually signifying "sea", is also applied
to large agglomerations of sweet water, like rivers,
lakes, etc.; in the above context, the dual al-bahrayn
denotes "the two great bodies [or "kinds"] of water" -
the salty and the sweet - existing side by side on earth.

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42

I.e., has caused them - as if by an invisible barrier -
to remain distinct in kind despite their continuous
meeting and mingling in the oceans: an indirect reminder
of God's planning creativeness inherent in the cyclic
transformation of water - its evaporation from the salty
seas, followed by a formation of clouds, their
condensation into rain and snow which feed springs and
rivers, and its return to the seas. Some Muslim mystics
see in this stress on the two kinds of water an allegory
of the gulf - and, at the same time, interaction -
between man's spiritual perceptions, on the one hand, and
his worldly needs and passions, on the other.

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43

See second half of 21:30 where the creation of "every
living thing out of water" is spoken of, as well as
24:45, which mentions in this connection the entire
animal world (including, of course, man).

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44

I.e., has enabled him to attribute spiritual value to,
and to derive strength from, his organic and social
relationships.

I.e., "ask God Himself": since He alone holds the keys to
the mysteries of the universe, it is only by observing
His creation and listening to His revealed messages that
man can obtain a glimpse, however distant, of God's Own
reality.

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48

See 10:5, where the sun if spoken of as "a [source of]
radiant light", explained in the corresponding note [10].
For my rendering of buruj as "great constellations", see
note [15] on 15:16.

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49

Lit., "or" (aw) - a particle which obviously does not
denote here an alternative but, rather, an explanatory
amplification, similar to the expression "in other
words".

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50

Sc., "with the aim to ridicule them or to argue against
their beliefs".

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51

In the Qur'an, the verb anfaqa (and the corresponding
noun nafaqah) has usually this connotation.

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52

See surah {6}, note [148].

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53

Lit., "he who does that (dhalika)", i.e., any of the
three sins referred to in this verse. (For my translation
of zina as "adultery", see surah {24}, note [2].)

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54

Implying that neither do they themselves ever bear false
witness (i.e., in the widest sense of this expression,
tell any lie), nor do they knowingly take part in
anything that is based on falsehood (Razi).

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55

Explaining this verse, Zamakhshari remarks that whereas
the average run of people approach the divine writ with a
mere outward show of eagerness, "throwing themselves upon
it" for the sake of appearances but, in reality, not
making the least attempt to understand the message as
such and, hence, remaining deaf and blind to its contents
- the truly God-conscious are deeply desirous of
understanding it, and therefore "listen to it with
wide-awake ears and look into it with seeing eyes".

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56

I.e., by living a righteous life.

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57

Lit., "were it not for your prayer", which term Ibn
'Abbas (as quoted by Tabari) equates in this context with
"faith".

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58

I.e., "unless you repent, this sin will determine your
spiritual destiny in the life to come".